County profile · official public datasets

Chester County, SC

190 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 40.5% rated Good, 50% Fair, 9.5% Poor.

190
Public bridges: 40.5%
Good condition: 9.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.

Chester County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

37th
of 46 on Poor share: 9.5%
Poor-condition share: 190
public highway bridges: 1976
avg year built

Poor is an FHWA condition category from the lowest applicable component rating (4 or below), not a live crossing-safety or closure decision. Rankings cover counties with at least five public highway bridges.

Chester County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Chester County ranks #37 of 46 South Carolina counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.5%). Chester County, South Carolina contains 190 public highway bridges. Roughly 40.5% are rated “Good,” 50% “Fair,” and 9.5% “Poor.” Poor means the lowest applicable deck, superstructure, substructure, or culvert rating is 4 or below on the 0–9 NBI scale. It is a condition category, not a live safety or closure decision.

Responsible agencies inspect covered bridges on risk-based intervals under current NBIS rules and submit inventory data to FHWA annually. The list below shows every NBI-tracked bridge in the county. Use the “Sort by” controls to change the ordering, and click any row for its reported inspection date, traffic count, and condition fields.

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory. See methodology for full definitions.

Total bridges

190

Public highway bridges in Chester County

Good condition

40.5%

77 of 190 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50%

95 of 190 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.5%

18 of 190 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#37 of 46

Among South Carolina counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 190 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

40.5% (77)

Fair

50% (95)

Poor

9.5% (18)

Chester County's Poor-condition bridges carry 25,975 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,443 crossings a day against 955 for a Good-condition one. A Poor rating is a condition category, not a closure or a live safety judgement; it means the lowest applicable component rating is 4 or below.

Computed over the 190 of 190 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

43.2% of Chester County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

82 of the 190 bridges with a recorded construction year were built in 1974 or earlier. Age alone is not a defect: a well-maintained older bridge can rate Good, and 40.5% of this county's inventory does. Even so, this older cohort is the population from which future Poor ratings are drawn, which is why the age profile below matters alongside the condition split above.

Cutoff derives from the 2024 release year minus a 50-year design life. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

One structure carries 23.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 21 over S.C.L. RAILROAD, built 1956, carries 6,000 vehicles a day, the most of any Poor-rated structure here. The county's Poor-condition exposure is concentrated rather than evenly spread, so the 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 25,975 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

8
1930s

14
1940s

13
1950s

5
1960s

27
1970s

46
1980s

19
1990s

25
2000s

19
2010s

11
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 46 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the South Carolina average (1977).

How Chester County compares with South Carolina's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 South Carolina counties nearest Chester County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 45 South Carolina counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Chester County and the 5 South Carolina counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Cherokee County	199	45.2%	43.7%	11.1%	1983
Chesterfield County	199	40.2%	54.8%	5%	1974
Aiken County	198	36.9%	53.5%	9.6%	1977
Dorchester County	198	28.8%	69.2%	2%	1972
Williamsburg County	195	38.5%	54.9%	6.7%	1977
Chester County (this page)	190	40.5%	50%	9.5%	1976

Each share is of that county's own total tracked bridges; peers are the counties with 5 or more bridges whose inventory size is closest to Chester County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Two NBI-derived peer sets for Chester County, both outside South Carolina so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside SC (190 bridges here).

Clinton County, IL · 190 bridges
Wapello County, IA · 190 bridges
Webster County, IA · 190 bridges
Bienville County, LA · 190 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside SC (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.

All 190 Good 77 Fair 95 Poor 18

All bridges (190)

Sort:

Chester County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Chester County's Poor-condition bridges carry 25,975 vehicle crossings a day

43.2% of Chester County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 23.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Chester County compares with South Carolina's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

All bridges (190)

S-12-778

C-12-471

SC 97

S-12-397

SC 72

S-12-476

S-12-195

S-12-77

S-12-141

S-12-72

S-12-408

S-12-327

S-12-16

S-12-192

S-12-275

S-12-799

S-12-44

S-12-53

SC 223

S-12-52

S-12-834

S-12-25

S-12-56

S-12-56

S-12-742

S-12-327

S-12-838

S-12-136

S-12-326

SC 97

S-12-426

S-12-54

S-12-609

S-12-70

SC 9

S-12-335

S-12-71

S-12-54

S-12-304

S-12-75

S-12-403

S-12-54

S-12-404

S-12-144

S-12-465

S-12-58

S-12-299

S-12-32

SC 72

S-12-300

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